


sprained

by maketea



Series: fictober 2019 [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Arguing, Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fictober 2019, Fluff, Kissing, post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 03:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20941556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maketea/pseuds/maketea
Summary: marinette has never been good at thinking before she speaks. adrien’s sprained ankle isn’t the only thing that hurts.





	sprained

**Author's Note:**

> fictober day 7: “no, and that’s final.”

“Rogercop  _ again _ ?” Adrien exclaimed, leaning forward on the sofa.

Beside him, Marinette stirred his hot chocolate and sighed. “I wonder what happened this time.” The milk was already starting to cool, so she added a last spoonful of sugar before handing it to Adrien. He took it, eyes still glued to the television. “Do you need anything else?”

“Nope, I’m good to go,” he said. “Plagg, claws—”

Marinette muffled the rest with a finger to his lips.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, displeased.

He stared at her, then spoke against her finger. “There’s an akuma.”

“There is.”

“Aren’t we gonna fight it?

When she was sure he wouldn’t transform, Marinette retracted her finger. “ _ I _ am going. You think I’d let you go out like this?” She gestured to his bandaged foot, and subsequently the crutches propped up against the sofa.

Adrien scoffed. “Are you serious? It isn’t even a big deal.”

He said the same thing the day he got his crutches, when Marinette offered to hold his bag for him. He said the same thing before he sunk into his desk chair, preluded by a wince, and took his dose of painkillers for the hour. He said the same thing when he looked up at the grand staircase that afternoon, and hobbled up to his room — crutches and all. Fencing injuries were normal for him. He never thought they were a big deal.

As if it were a funny story, he once told Marinette about the time he showed up to a battle with a sprained wrist. Marinette almost killed him.

“The doctor said you need to rest. You aren’t fit to be running after an akuma,” she told him. Seeing he hadn’t stirred in the sugar, Marinette took the spoon and did it for him.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“No, you’re being irresponsible.” She let go of the spoon and pointed at the TV screen. “There’s no way you can deal with that with a sprained ankle. Don’t you remember last time? We both got thrown off a car  _ midair _ .”

“Which is why I have to be there for you!”

Marinette took in a deep breath. She hated that apprehensive swelling of an argument-to-be. 

“Adrien, you aren’t listening to me,” she said. “I can look after myself. You shouldn’t even be walking up and down the stairs. How do you expect yourself to fight an akuma?”

“Like I always do — with you.” Adrien took one hand off his hot chocolate mug to put it on Marinette’s. “We’re a team, I can’t just let you do this by yourself.”

“No, Adrien.” She looked at their hands for a second, before gently pulling hers away and standing up. “And that’s final.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“I wouldn’t have to be if you could be responsible for two seconds.” She glanced over at Plagg, who had been loitering awkwardly at Adrien’s shoulder since he had been called on. “You get it, don’t you, Plagg?”

For the first time, Marinette watched Plagg hesitate. “Listen, Adrien, she has a point—”

“I don’t care.” He clenched his fist. “You can’t do this without your partner.”

“I don’t  _ need _ a—”

Marinette clapped a hand over her mouth.

No. That wasn’t true. That was as far from the truth as it could be.

She took one look at Adrien, at the way his whole face crumbled, and felt a painful squeeze in her chest.

“You could’ve just said that from the beginning," he said, and looked down at his hot chocolate.

Marinette scrambled to sit beside him. She reached for him, but realised he wouldn't lean in like he usually did. "Adrien, I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean that, it—it came out all wrong.”

“Don’t worry, Marinette.” And he smiled at her in the most accepting way, like he expected it, like he thought it was true. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for insisting.”

“No… Adrien—”

“You should really get going,” he said gently, eyes on the TV.

Marinette found the remote half buried between the couch cushions and switched off the news. Adrien stayed facing the screen, anyway.

“Please look at me,” she said. “I didn’t mean it at all.”

He didn’t move. Even when she touched his cheek and turned him, Adrien kept his eyes cast aside. 

Marinette came closer, and, hoping he still wanted her near, pressed her forehead against his. 

She watched him through her lashes. “I need you. I’m really sorry.”

He swallowed. “It’s not like you to not say what you mean.”

“What about that time I had a huge crush on you?”

Finally, Adrien looked up at her. They both cracked smiles at the other.

“Listen.” Marinette sat up, taking her forehead from his, and picked his hand up from the mug. “I’m so, so sorry. I just wanted to say that I’ll be fine today.”

He coiled back. “Because you don’t need me?”

Marinette closed her eyes. She needed him more than she had ever needed anyone before. It was beyond her why it didn’t make sense to him, why Adrien Agreste — why Chat Noir — couldn’t see how every bit of him was what was keeping her going. 

Perhaps it was because Marinette was an idiot who always wanted the last word, and ended up telling him she didn’t need him.

The back of her throat burned with tears. How could she have said that? How could something so vile have even reached her mouth?

“No,” she said, just about avoiding a voice crack. “Because I  _ do _ need you, and I can’t leave you. I’ll do everything possible to make sure everything will be okay.”

Adrien swirled his hot chocolate some more. The preliminary shock had worn off his face, but still, he stared at his bandages glumly.

“Please just stay here, Adrien,” she implored, “where I know you’re safe. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got hurt because of me.”

Letting go of the hot chocolate, he let out a watery sigh. “I just want to be beside you.”

“I know.” She pushed his hair from his brow. “I promise as soon as I get back I’ll fill you in on everything. I just need you to be safe.”

In the back of her mind, a clock was ticking. She knew an akuma shouldn’t be left unmanaged for long. There had been times where one had upturned all the cars on a single street by the time she and Chat Noir had arrived at the scene, and that was all within five minutes.

But maybe she wasn’t as great of a superhero as she might’ve been before, because, despite her every instinct, that clock remained solely at the back.

Adrien reached up, and wrapped his fingers around her hand. “Okay, My Lady. I’ll stay here.”

Her relief deflated out of her in one large exhale. Marinette stroked his cheek. “You know how much I love you, right?”

He nodded with a half-smile. “I know. I love you, too.”

And though it wasn’t the time — it really, really wasn’t the time — Marinette leaned forward and kissed him. Soft enough to be loving, and hard enough to be a reminder.

“Go,” he said on her mouth.

“Okay.” She kissed him once more, then straightened. “Tikki, spots on!”


End file.
